In a Real Democracy the Place of Power is Empty

During one of my first philosophy courses we talked about different systems of government, and how they deal with power. Democracy is different from other forms because the place where the power is, is empty. There is no person or object that embodies the power. People just pass through the place of power, objects lose their symbolic significance when not used. Everyone knows the emperor has no clothes, but that doesn't hurt at all, simply because there is no emperor to begin with.

Children around the Speaker's seat in the Swedish Parliament

Today we saw that demonstrated before our eyes.When we walked through Stockholm today we passed the Parliament and saw a poster indicating that today was open house. We entered the building on a spur and within minutes we stood in the plenary room, playing around with the Speakers hammer. Children were playing Speaker, their parents taking pictures. A couple had themselves photographed making out between the MP's benches. How different from the struggle to fill the void Yasser Arafat left behind when he lay dying in a Paris hospital. Or can you imagine two random teenagers walking in from the street having themselves pictured kissing in the Oval Office or in the US Senate speaker's chair?

the Speaker's hammer

In the rooms around the plenary hall different parliamentary commissions actively engaged citizens into conversation about different topics. We chatted briefly with MP Ingvar Svensson about Sweden's place in the EU and how the people rejected the Euro in a referendum. After having a look in the former plenary room, we left and continued on our way. The Swedish sovereign power not the least tainted by the fact that we played around with it's symbols for a while.

Elmine taking a seat in Parliament

The urn used in Swedish Parliament for personal secret ballots. Note how this important artefact is a playfull object of art, depicting the islands on which Stockholm is build, with the Parliament as the red bridge. The Kingdom's golden apple on top.